SCRIPT GRAMMAR FOR MALAYALAM LANGUAGE

Prepared by

Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) Programme

of DIT, GoI in association with

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)

1
 Table of Contents

0. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 3
1. OBJECTIVES OF SCRIPT GRAMMAR .................................................................. 4
2. END USERS FOR SCRIPT GRAMMAR ................................................................. 5
3. SCOPE ........................................................................................................................ 6
4. TERMINOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 7
5.PHILOSOPHY AND UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES .................................................. 11
6. SCRIPT GRAMMARSTRUCTURE ....................................................................... 12
6.1. PERIPHERAL ELEMENTS OF THE SCRIPT GRAMMAR .............................. 13
6.2. CONFORMITY TO THE SYLLABLE STRUCTURE ........................................ 14
6.3 SCRIPT GRAMMAR PROPER ............................................................................. 17
6.3.1. The Character Set of Malayalam. ................................................................... 17
6.3.2. Consonant Mātrā Combinations. ................................................................... 23
6.3.3. The Ligature Set of Malayalam. .................................................................... 29
6.3.4 The Collation Order of Malayalam. ................................................................ 41
7. REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 42
8. ANNEXURES .......................................................................................................... 43
Annexure 1: Names of experts who have contributed to the script grammar ............... 43
Annexure :2 Report of the committee on Malayalam character Encoding and Keyboard
layout standardization ................................................................................................... 44
Annexure 3: Unicode Table of MALAYALAM .......................................................... 45

2
0. INTRODUCTION
The term script grammar refers to the behaviour pattern of the writing system of a given
language. Languages which have written representations do not use a haphazard manner
of storing the information within the system, but use a coherent pattern which is similar
to the linguistic grammar of a given language. With the help of specialists (not
necessarily linguist) who work in the area of the written representation of the language,
the manner in which the shapes of the characters of the language and the representation
of the conjunct forms is provided. In other words the Script Grammar deals with the
surface structure of the language and tries to provide the best possible “fit” for shapes
and their representation. Since this is a highly subjective issue, the shapes provided here
are recommendations at the best and conform to the perception of the mandating
body/evaluators who consensually arrive at the “best possible fit” which is acceptable to
a majority of users. An example will make the above clear. Although Marathi and Hindi
share the same script Devanāgarī, not only do they not share the same character inventory
but in addition the representation of certain characters is different. Thus the Marathi /la/
is different from the Hindi /la/ in so far as the placement of the stem is concerned Hindi ल
Marathi ल. This ensures that the Script Grammar conforms to the language in question
and provides the character shapes acceptable to a given user community. It should be
noted that this does not mean monotony. The Hindi and Marathi /la/ can have a variety of
forms once the intrinsic structure of the character is determined.

Script Grammar is the term used to define:

• the writing system used to inscribe a given language
• the history of the script and language (wherever available)
• the syllabic structure of the writing system of the language
• the rule ordering of the characters within the syllable (akshar)
• description of the syllabic clusters
• collation order of the characters: lexical / dictionary sorting order

3
1. OBJECTIVES OF SCRIPT GRAMMAR

The Objectives of the script grammar for each language can be divided into two major
parts:

Societal:
• Provide a visual representation of shapes that are deemed to be in conformity with
the perception of a given community

• Ensure thereby that this perception is safe-guarded

• Through wide-spread dissemination and creation of appropriate tools ensure that

within the given linguistic community, all media tries to adopt the given shape.

Technical:
• Classify the language in terms of its ISO and also whether it belongs to the Abjad,
Akshar (Alphasyllabary) class.

• Provide an inventory of the characters pertinent to the language and classify the
same in terms of their taxonomy.

• As a corollary determine whether the inventory is in conformity to the Syllable

formalism as stipulated in ISCII’91 and subsequently adopted by Unicode.

• Since Brahmi is written from left to right, and since certain characters do not
follow the linear LtoR order, provide an inventory of displaced catenators i.e.
characters such as Mātrās that concatenate to the Consonant

• Propose the best shape representation of the individual characters as well as of the
ligatures used within a given script. As a corollary request the expert(s) to identify
the largest possible strings of such ligatures.

• Finally provide the collation order pertinent to that script/language, which would
be of great utility to high-end NLP as well as to CLDR’s in the pertinent
language. The collationorder for Marathi is different from Hindi although both
languages share the same script. Thus in Marathi ,  are placed at the end of
the consonant inventory i.e. after ह in the sort order. In Hindi  is sorted along
with क and with ज

4
2. END USERS FOR SCRIPT GRAMMAR

The script-grammar specific to a given language can be used by a large number of users.

• Most importantly it can be used by font developers desirous of developing a font

which is compliant with the perception of the characters and ligatures of a
language by its user community.

• Certain features of the script grammar such as the shapes can also be used for
testing OCR and OHWR. Similarly information regarding Ligatures as well as
collation order can help in high-end NLP work such as detecting invalid
combinations, correct implementation of syllable structure, prediction routines to
name a few. Information regarding collation and character sets can be also used
for CLDR.

• They allow the font designer to design a font which is in compliance with the
norms and standards of that particular script. A major problem which will be dealt
with in the template is one of ligatures. The final list of ligatures defined by the
script grammar allows the font designer to write specific rules for such glyphs.

• It permits the software developer to design and implement the keyboard and the
input mechanism which will meet the requirement of the particular linguistic
community.

• The collation or sort order as described in a Script Grammar permits the software
developer to write software functions/ routines for sorting data in all applications.

• Script Grammars are equally important for keyboard design, especially when
supplemented by frequency data from a corpus.

As can be seen the script grammar has a wide range of use and can be of utility to font
developers, Indian language developers and linguists in the area of computation.

5
3. SCOPE

This script grammar document contains following information about the language and the
script used for writing the language.

1. Name of the language and its representation in the 3 letter mnemonic as

per ISO 639.1 & 639.3 standard.
2. Script used to inscribe the given language
3. The structure of the script used for writing the language
• Rule ordering of the characters within the syllable formation is a
language
• Description of the syllabic clusters of the script
• Collation order of the characters: lexical / dictionary sorting order
• Compliance of the script with Unicode.
These will be treated within the relevant sections of the script grammar

6
 1
4. TERMINOLOGY

Abjad: A writing system in which each symbol always or usually stands for a consonant.
The long vowels are indicated. However the short vowels are rarely marked and the
reader needs to supply these. Example: Urdu written in Perso-Arabic Script is an example
of this writing system.

Abugida: also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system in which

consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter,
and vowel notation is obligatory but secondary2

Akshar: see Abugida

Allographs: Variants of the representation of a character. Thus ae and æ [U+00E6] in

Latin alphabet are allographs.

Allo-Script: The term relates to languages which share a common script. Thus
Devanāgarī is used to write 9 official languages. However these languages do not use the
same set of characters. Thus Marathi uses the retroflex lla ळ [U+ 0933] which Hindi
does not use. Flaps used in Hindi ड़ [U+095C] ढ़ [U+095D] are not used in Konkani.
These sub-sets of scripts based on a single “matricial” script are termed as allo-scripts.

Alphabet: A set of letters used in writing a language. Example: The English Alphabet.

Aspirated consonant: A consonant which is pronounced with an extra puff of air coming
out at the time of release of the oral obstruction. This has a sound of an extra "h".

Basic alphabet: The minimal set of letters which can be used for uniquely encoding
every word of a language. The basic alphabet for English consists of only the upper-case
letters A-Z

Catenators: Also termed as Concatenators are characters which are concatenated to

another character. In the Brahmi script these are the Mātrās or Vowel modifiers which are
adjoined to the consonant and add a vocalic value to the consonant.

Conjunct: The Indic scripts are noted for a large number of consonant conjunct forms
that serve as orthographic abbreviations (ligatures) of two or more adjacent letterforms.
This abbreviation takes place only in the context of a consonant cluster….Under normal
circumstances, a consonant cluster is depicted with a conjunct glyph if such a glyph is
available in the current font. In the absence of a conjunct glyph, the one or more dead

1
As in the case of the BIS Document, in order to make the terminology accessible for all readers, examples
have been chosen from English/Latin scripts, wherever possible. Some definitions have been excerpted
from the BIS ISCII91 document and suitably modified where necessary.
2
Wikipedia definition

7
consonants that form part of the cluster are depicted using half-form glyphs. In the
absence of half-form glyphs, the dead consonants are depicted using the nominal
consonant forms combined with visible virama signs.3

Consonant: A letter representing a speech sound in which the breath is at least partly
obstructed,

Diacritic:A mark added to a letter which distinguishes it from the same letter without a
mark, usually having a different phonetic value or stress.

Displaced Catenator: (see Catenator) Within the Brahmi script, the writing system is
linear and moves from left to right. However in the case of some catenators this rules is
not observed and the catenator (wholly or partially) is placed to the right of the consonant
to which it relates. The short vowel I in Devanāgarī is an example of a displaced
catenator.

Display composing: The process of organizing the basic shapes available in a font in
order to display (or print) a word.

Display rendition: The process by which a string of characters is displayed (or printed).
In this process several consecutive characters may combine with each other on the screen.
The sequence of display of the characters may become different.

Eyebrow repha: (See Eyelash ra)

Eyelash ra:The eyelash ra is used in Konkani, Nepali and Marathi. It is treated as

different from the र ् (repha) by certain linguists. While the former is treated as a flap, the
latter is a continuant trill (cf., Kalyan Kale and Anjali Soman. 1986). There are cases in
Marathi of minimal pairs such as: आचायास“to the teacher” vs. आचायास“to the cook” or
दया /darya/ “ocean” vs. दया /darya/ “valleys”.

Font: A set of symbols used for display or printing of a script in a particular style.

International numerals: The conventional 0 to 9 digits used in English for denoting

numbers. these are also known as Indo-Arabic numerals (to differentiate them from the
Roman numerals like IX for 9).

Latin alphabet: The alphabet used for writing the language of ancient Rome. Also
known as the Roman alphabet. The alphabet is used today for writing English and
European languages.

Letter: A character representing one or more of the simple or compound sounds used in
speech. It can be any of the alphabetic symbols.

3
Unicode 6.0 Chapter 9.0 pp 6-7

8
Ligature: (see Conjunct)

Nasal consonant: A consonant pronounced with the breath passing through the nose.
Example m ninEnglish.

Nasalized vowel: A vowel pronounced with the breath passing both through the nose and
the mouth. In Indian scripts this is denoted by a Chandrabindu and gives the vowel/vowel
modifier over which it placed a nasal value. Example: जाँच

Phonetic alphabet: An alphabet which has direct correspondence between letters and
sounds Example: The International Phonetic Alphabet..

Pure consonant: A consonant which does not have any vowel implicitly associated with
it.

Rafar: A special case of a ligature constituted by the adjunction of ra followed by a

halanta to consonant. The resultant combination places the ra on top of the consonant to
which it is adjoined. In case the consonant itself is adjoined to another consonant, the
rafar is placed above the consonant e.g. र+
् क क, र+
् घ ्+य य

Rakar: A special case of a ligature constituted by the adjunction of a consonant followed

by a halanta to ra. In a large number of Brahmi scripts the ra is adjoined to the stem of
consonant to which it relates. In the case of consonants which have no stem such as the
dental retroflexes in Devanāgarī, the rakar is placed below the consonant to which it
relates.

Repha: (see Rafar)

Roman script: The script based on the ancient Roman alphabet, with the letters A-Z and
additional diacritic marks. Used for writing a language which is not usually written in the
Roman alphabet.

Script: A distinctive and complete set of characters used for the written form of one or
more languages.

Script numerals: The 0 to 9 digits in a script, which have shapes distinct from their
international counterparts.

Syllable: A unit of pronunciation uttered without interruption, forming whole or part of a

word, and usually having one vowel or diphthong sound optionally surrounded by one or
more consonants

Transliteration: Representation of words with the closest corresponding letters in an

alphabet of a different language.

9
Vowel: A letter representing a speech sound made with the vibration of the vocal cords,
but without audible obstruction

Vowel sign: A graphic character associated with a letter, to indicate a vowel to be

associated with that character (Mātrā in Hindi).

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5.PHILOSOPHY AND UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES

The script grammar is based on the following principles:

1. The Grammar aims to depict the surface grammar of the written language: the
manner in which characters as well as conjuncts are depicted

2. Where a given script admits many languages, it is pre-suppose that such

languages will prescribe different representations for a given shape or
conjunct according to the perception of the native users of that language

3. Corollary to the above the result is a script and allo-scripts i.e. a given script
shared by many languages is not uniformly deployed across all the languages
but is subject to variations and modulations.

4. The term Grammar is used here in a non-normative sense: what is prescribed

is in the form of recommendations provided by experts who visualize the
shape of the given script in their mother tongue in a specific manner.
Subjective variations may occur4

5. The Grammar is limited to its synchronic use i.e. the manner in which a given
language as of today admits a character set within the script used to write it. It
is not diachronic or historical in nature and does not study the evolution of the
given script across centuries.

4
It is recommended that such variations be culled by placing the Grammars of different scripts in public
review.

11
6. SCRIPT GRAMMARSTRUCTURE

The script grammar provided below has the following parts.

Part 6.1. deals with peripheral elements such as the ISO of the language, the writing
system used: (Alphasyllabic) Abugida or Abjad.

Part 6.2. treats of the syllabic structure. It verifies whether the character set of the
language complies with the ISCII syllabic structure and if not which cases are not
compliant.

Part 6.3 is the script grammar proper and describes the character set as well as the
conjunct shapes of the given script along with the collation order

12
6.1. PERIPHERAL ELEMENTS OF THE SCRIPT GRAMMAR

These constitute the elements that are peripheral to the Script Grammar. The main
parameters considered are the mnemonic and name of the language (needed for CLDR
and also for language tags), the writing system used to inscribe the language and
wherever possible a short history of the language.

6.1.1. Name of the language and its representation in the 3 letter mnemonic as per
ISO 639.1. & 639.3

Name of the Language: MALAYALAM

ISO Mnemonics: mal
This refers to a one line description of the language and its mnemonic representation as
per the ISO. In the case of Malayalam, the above information is pertinent.

6.1.2. Identification of the writing system(s) used to inscribe the given language

Malayalam is written using the Malayalam script. It is an alphasyllabary with the

akshar as its core.
This is a one line description of the script used to write the language. However in case
the language uses more than one script, all the scripts in question are specified, provided
these constitute the official language of the given state.

All scripts derived from Brahmi are Abugidas i.e. syllabary driven systems. The main
features of Abugidas are as under:
• The consonant has an implicit vowel built-in which is normally the schwa.
• The inherent vowel can be modified by the addition of other vowels or
muted by a diacritic termed as a Virama or Halanta
• Vowels can be handled as full vowels with a vocalic value
When two or more consonants join together they form ligatures eg. .
Abugidas/Alphasyllabaries because of their syllabic structure require a special
description which is the subject of the discussion in 6.2. below.

6.1.3. Amendments needed inUnicode for Malayalam language

The experts have not deemed fit to propose any amendments to Unicode for Malayalam

13
6.2. CONFORMITY TO THE SYLLABLE STRUCTURE

Malayalam language complies with the syllable (akshar) structure described above.
It can admit up to 4 consonant clusters.

Alphasyllabaries are determined by the notion of the syllable or the Akshar. The
compositional grammar of the syllable determines it well-formedness. This is through a
series of formal constraints based on a Backus-Naur Formalism which is given below.
The syllable (akshar), first defined in the ISCII document (1991), identifies the following
character ‘sub-sets’ for the purposes of identifying the syllable (akshar). In what follows
the syllable analysis will be restricted to Malayalam.

(C) Consonants

    

 
 
 
! "
% &
  
  
  
# $
'

(V) Vowels

( ) * + , - . / 0
1 2 3 4

(M) Mātrās or Vowel Modifiers

◌6 ◌7 ◌8 ◌9 ◌: ◌; <◌ =◌ >◌ <◌6 =◌6 ◌?

(D) Diacritics

◌@ Anuswaram For example, (@@.The Anuswaram is placed to the right of

the Character to which it is adjoined. This falls under Nasal
category.
◌AVisarga Visarga, denoted by two dots placed one above the other and
placed to the right of the Character to which it is adjoined. For
example,9A@
ഽ:Avagraha/ Avagraha which is rarely used has been omitted by the experts.
Praslesham

14
(H):Chandrakkala (Halanta): ◌C
Chandrakkala (Halanta) used in most writing systems of the Indian subcontinent to
signify the lack of an inherent vowel.

(N)5 Nukta ◌઼ -is Not used in Malayalam

Each of these sub-types has its restrictions in terms of what can precede or follow it
within a syllable (akshar), as shown in the table below:

PRECEDED BY SUBTYPE FOLLOWED BY

-, H C M,D,H
- V D
C M D
C,V,M D -
C H C

C can be preceded by H or no subtype and followed by any one of the following: M,D,H
V can be preceded by no subtype and followed by D but not by another sub-type.
M can be preceded by C and followed by D.
D can be preceded by C, V, M and followed by no other subtype. It closes the syllable
(akshar).
H can be preceded by C alone and followed only by C and no other sub-set.

In the case of Malayalam however, a set of consonants termed as Chillu characters need
special treatment in the BNF. As per the experts there are 5 chillu characters in
Malayalam. These are as under:

D E F G H

Their theoretical distribution is as under:

PRECEDED BY SUBTYPE FOLLOWED BY
C, V Chillu C, V
C,V Chillu C,V

6.2.1.Syllable (akshar) Types

5
The nukta is a small dot placed under a character in certain scripts to show that they are flapped or for
deriving 5 other consonants loaned from Urdu क़,ख़,ग़,ज़,फ़

15
The formalism defines the syllable (akshar) in terms of both what can constitute a
syllable (akshar) and what cannot. A valid syllable (akshar) as per this definition can be
of only two types:

1. A vowel syllable (akshar): a full vowel.

2. A consonant syllable (akshar): a full consonant (having a weak vowel or a mātrā )

The three other subsets viz. Mātrās, Diacritics, Chandrakkala (Halanta) cannot constitute
a syllable (akshar) by themselves or in combination among themselves.

6.2.1.1. The Vowel syllable (akshar) is of the following types:

6.2.1.1.1. A pure vowel all by itself: ( /a/ ,)/ā/ etc.

6.2.1.1.2. A vowel followed by a modifier i.e. either a nasal marker or a visarga:
*@ /im /, (A /aH/
6.2.1.2. The Consonant syllable (akshar) can be of the following types:
6.2.1.2.1. A full consonant (with or without Nukta) i.e. with the inherent vowel :  /ka/
6.2.1.2.2. A consonant followed by a mātrā i.e. the inherent vowel being substituted by
another vowel: 8 /ki:/
6.2.1.2.3. A consonant followed by a modifier: @/kam/,A/kaH/
6.2.1.2.4. A consonant followed by a mātrā and a modifier: 7@/kim/, 9A/duH/.
6.2.1.2.5. A consonant cluster i.e. a dead or half consonant (Consonant+Chandrakkala
(Halanta)) followed by a full consonant followed optionally by a mātrā, a modifier or a
combination of both. These result in a ligature or what is often termed as yuktakshara.
I/tsa/ I@/tsam/,JA /kkaH/ I9@ /tsum/, I9 /tsu/.
The above permutations and combinations result in 7 major syllable (akshar) types. Of
these the last type introduces the problem of the number of consonant clusters. ISCII (91,
p.23) provides for up to four consonant clusters as the “worst case” i.e. the largest
possible string.
This means that theoretically the following forms can be postulated:
1. Vowel Set: With the Vowel as the node.
V VD
2. Consonant set: With the Consonant as the node (an implicit or modified
vowel is pre-implied).

Node Mātrā Modifier Mātrā+Modifier

C CM CD CMD
CHC CHCM CHCD CHCMD
CHCHC CHCHCM CHCHCD CHCHCMD
CHCHCHC CHCHCHCM CHCHCHCD CHCHCHCM

A total number of 16 theoretical syllables is therefore possible. It will be seen that the
written syllable (akshar) is not very different in structure from the phonetic syllable and

16
that the movement from the written to the spoken levels is made feasible by application
of certain rules.

This formal structure of the syllable (akshar) explained above is common to all Brahmi
based scripts (with a few variations). It will form the basis of an exhaustive description of
the characters as well as their ligatural representations.

6.3 SCRIPT GRAMMAR PROPER

This section lays down in detail the different parameters of the Script Grammar for
Malayalam. These are:

6.3.1. The Character Set of Malayalam.

6.3.2. The Consonant mātrā combinations of Malayalam.
6.3.3. The Ligature Set of Malayalam.
6.3.4. Collocation Order of Malayalam

6.3.1. The Character Set of Malayalam.

This section provides detailed information about the characters in the language and the
list of the same and also more importantly shows the manner in which the character is to
be written. Each subsection comprises therefore two parts: the basic character set and the
shape each character should have, as mandated by the experts who have designed the
script grammar of Malayalam.

This comprises the following:

6.3.1.1. The Consonant Set
6.3.1.2. The Vowel Set
6.3.1.3. The Mātrā Set
6.3.1.4. Displaced Catenators
6.3.1.5. Shape of the combination of ra (rakar,repha)
6.3.1.6. The Set of Diacritics
6.3.1.7. Numerals
6.3.1.8. Punctuation marks
6.3.1.9. Other symbols
Each of these will be analysed in detail:

17
6.3.1.1. The Consonant Set
The Consonant set of Malayalam comprises the following characters:
Basic Consonant inventory arranged as per their Vargas.

-voiced -voiced +voiced +voiced Nasal

-aspirated +aspirated -aspirated +aspirated
Velar     
Palatal
 
Retroflex     
Dental     
B-labial     

Other consonants

   !
" # $ % &
'

Malayalam admits the following 5 Chillu6 Characters.

D E F G H

The exact shapes as desired by the experts are provided in the table below:
-voiced -voiced +voiced +voiced Nasal
-aspirated +aspirated -aspirated +aspirated
Velar     
Palatal
 
Retroflex     
Dental     
B-labial     

Other consonants

   !
" # $ % &
'

6
These have been incorporated in Unicode 6.0. but are included here as per Expert’s recommendation so
that the Script grammar is truly representative of Malayalam

18
Chillu Characters.
D E F G H

6.3.1.2. The Vowel Set

The Vowel set of Malayalam is as under:
( MALAYALAM LETTER A
) MALAYALAM LETTER AA
* MALAYALAM LETTER I
+ MALAYALAM LETTER II
, MALAYALAM LETTER U
- MALAYALAM LETTER UU
. MALAYALAM LETTER VOCALIC R
/ MALAYALAM LETTER E
0 MALAYALAMLETTER EE
1 MALAYALAM LETTER AI
2 MALAYALAM LETTER O
3 MALAYALAM LETTER OO
4 MALAYALAM LETTER AU
As per expert recommendations the character set should be written as under:
()*+,-./01234

6.3.1.3. The Mātrā Set

The Mātrā (Vowel Modifier Set) of Malayalam is as under:
Mātrās Names Mātrās Sign Where is it used ? Consonant
Shapes formed
1. Malayalam sign AA ◌6 ) C+ )=6
2. Malayalam sign I ◌7 * C+ *= 7
3 Malayalam sign II ◌8 + C++= 8
4. Malayalam sign U ◌9 , C+,= 9

19
5. Malayalam sign UU
6. Malayalam sign vocalic R
7. Malayalam sign E
8. Malayalam sign EE
9. Malayalam sign AI
10. Malayalam sign O
11. Malayalam sign OO
12. Malayalam sign AU
◌: - C+ -= :
◌; . C+.= ;
<◌ / C+/= <
=◌ 0 C+0= =
>◌ 1 C+1=>
<◌6 2 C+2= <6
=◌6 3 C+3= =6
◌? 4 C+4= ?

As per expert recommendations the character set should be written as under:

◌6 ◌7 ◌8 ◌9 ◌: ◌; <◌ =◌ >◌ <◌6 =◌6 ◌?

6.3.1.4. Displaced Catenators

Malayalam only admits Two part vowel modifiers i.e. one part of the modifier is placed
to the left and the other to the right of the consonant to which these modifiers are
adjoined.
CATENATOR POSITION EXAMPLE
<◌6 Consonant in the middle <6

=◌6 Consonant in the middle =6

” or “ '”
6.3.1.5. Shape of the combination of ra “
In Malayalam the combination of Consonant+ Chandrakkala+  or ' is shown as the
adjoining of a “ ”
M -  ◌C 
O -  ◌C 
M -  ◌C '
O -  ◌C '
The experts have recommended as under:
Although “ ” can be allograph of both and ', depending upon
the context, a unique representation should be adopted in keyboard
driver and font implementations. For compatibility reasons,  is
preferred at present. However there should be a detailed discussion
in this matter and a final decision should be taken to avoid future
lexicography problems.
20
In addition to the above, the experts have also added the following comments on
allographs:
1. ALLOGRAPHS OF
P -  ◌C
P -  ◌C

2. ALLOGRAPHS OF 
Q -  ◌C 
Q -  ◌C 

3. ALLOGRAPHS OF  or %
 -  ◌C 
R -  ◌C 
 -  ◌C %
R -  ◌C %

Th expert recommendation is as under:

Although 7
can be an allograph of both  and %, depending
upon the context, a unique representation should be adopted in
keyboard driver and font implementations. For compatibility
reasons,  is preferred at present. However there should be a
detailed discussion in this matter and a final decision should be
taken to avoid future lexicography problems.

6.3.1.6. Diacritics
◌@ Anuswaram
◌A Visargam
Avagraha/ Praslesham which is rarely used has been omitted.

6.3.1.7. Numerals
The experts have deemed that English Numerals (Latino-Arabic set: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
are alone used.
The Malayalam numeral set given below is rarely used.

7
The character can exist only as conjunct shape and hence has been inserted as an image.

21
S T U V W X Y Z [ \
A sample specimen of a calendar using Mala
Malayalam
yalam numerals is provided below by the
experts:

6.3.1.8.. Punctuation Markers

Malayalam uses punctuation markers from the Latin set. such as . , ; : “ ‘ ( ) [ ] etc.
A list of punctuations is provided below:
Sr. No. Name of the marker Marker Shape
1. Full
ll Stop or Period .
2. Comma ,
3. Question Mark ?
4. Exclamation Mark !
5. Apostrophe ,
6. Semi Colon ;
7. Colon :
8. Hyphen -
9. Dash --
10. Ellipsis mark ...
11. Oblique /
12. Double quotation mark ""
13. Single quotation mark ‘‘
14. Cross XXX
15. As Above --"--
16. Roundnd Brackets ()
17. Square Brackets []
18. Curly Brackets {}

22
6.3.1.9 Other Symbols
These are religious, currency markers etc. included in Unicode:
൹-Malayalam Date Mark
൰-Malayalam number Ten
൱- Malayalam number one hundred
൲-Malayalam number one thousand
൳-Malayalam Fraction one quarter
൴- Malayalam Fraction one half
൵- Malayalam Fraction three quarters
₹: Rupee Sign as mandated by Government of India.

6.3.2. Consonant Mātrā Combinations.

These refer to the shapes generated when a Mātrā is adjoined to the Consonant. The
layout of these is in the shape of a matrix where the first horizontal row refers to the
active consonant and the first vertical column refers to the vowel-modifier.

Due to constraints of space and also clarity, for each class a series of 3 tables are
provided.

Table 1:     
 
Table 2:          
Table 3:         !
" # $ % & '

Wherever there is an X it implies that the combination does not exist. For the font
developer this is an indication that for this particular combination which is not possible in
the language but needs to be accommodated in the font table, a simple linear combination
be provided.
e.g. Although the combination of +Chandrakkala+ is theoretically not possible it
needs to be handled at the font level in the anticipation that a user could type this
combination. The font would show the following: C

The classes are as under:

6.3.2.1. refers to a simple concatenation of Consonant and Mātrā combinations.
6.3.2.2. refers to a concatenation of Consonant and Mātrā + Anuswaram marker
combinations. Other diacritics such as avagraha and visarga have been avoided, since
these are linear in nature, are adjoined to the combination and do not in any way modify
the structure of the shapes.

23
6.3.2.1 Consonant and Mātrā combinations.
This set refers to a simple concatenation of Consonant and Mātrā.

Consonant and Mātrā combinationsSet 1

    
 
◌6 6 6 6 6 6 6
6 6 6 6
◌7 7 7 7 7 7 7
7 7 7 7
◌8 8 8 8 8 8 8
8 8 8 8
◌9 9 9 9 9 9 9
9 9 9 9
◌: : : : : : :
: : : :

◌; ; ; ; ; ; ;
; ; ; ;
<◌ < < < < < < <
< < <
=◌ = = = = = = =
= = =
>◌ > > > > > > >
> > >
<◌6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6 < 6 <
6 <6 <6 < 6
=◌6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6 = 6 =
6 =6 =6 = 6
◌? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ?

Consonant and Mātrā combinations Set 2

This set is in continuation of set 1 which shows consonant and Matra combinations.

         
◌6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
◌7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
◌8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
◌9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
◌: : : : : : : : : : :

◌; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
<◌ < < < < < < < < < <
=◌ = = = = = = = = = =
>◌ > > > > > > > > > >
<◌6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6
=◌6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6
◌? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

24
Consonant and Mātrā combinations Set 3

This set is in continuation of set 2 which shows consonant and Matra combinations.

      
◌6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
◌7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
◌8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
◌9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
◌: : : : : : : :

◌; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
<◌ < < < < < < <
=◌ = = = = = = =
>◌ > > > > > > >
<◌6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6 <6
=◌6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6 =6
◌? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Consonant and Mātrā combinations Set 4

This set is in continuation of set 3 which shows consonant and Matra combinations.

'  ! " # $
◌6 '6 6 6 !6 "6 #6 $6
◌7 '7 7 7 !7 "7 #7 $7
◌8 '8 8 8 !8 "8 #8 $8
◌9 '9 9 9 !9 "9 #9 $9
◌: ': : : !: ": #: $:

◌; '; ; ; !; "; #; $;
<◌ <' < < <! <" <# <$
=◌ =' = = =! =" =# =$
>◌ >' > > >! >" ># >$
<◌6 <'6 <6 < 6 <!6 <"6 <#6 <$6
=◌6 ='6 =6 = 6 =!6 ="6 =#6 =$6
◌? '? ? ? !? "? #? $?

25
 Consonant and Mātrā combinations Set 5
This set is in continuation of set 4 which shows consonant and Matra combinations with retroflex
consonants % and &

% &
◌6 %6 &6
◌7 %7 &7
◌8 %8 &8
◌9 %9 &9
◌: %: &:
◌; %; &;
<◌ <% <&
=◌ =% =&
>◌ >% >&
<◌6 <%6 <&6
=◌6 =%6 =&6
◌? %? &?

6.3.2.2 Consonant and Mātrā +Anuswaram

This set refers to a Consonant and Mātrā + Anuswaramcombinations.

Consonant and Mātrā +Anuswaram combinations -Set 1

    
 
◌6◌@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@
6@ 6@ 6@ 6@
◌7◌@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@
7@ 7@ 7@ 7@
◌8◌@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@
8@ 8@ 8@ 8@
◌9◌@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@
9@ 9@ 9@ 9@
◌:◌@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@
:@ :@ :@ :@
◌;◌@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@
;@ ;@ ;@ ;@
<◌◌@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@ < @ <
@ <@ <@ < @
=◌◌@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@ = @ =
@ =@ =@ = @
>◌◌@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@ > @ >
@ >@ >@ > @
<◌6◌@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ < 6@ <
6@ <6@ <6@ < 6@
=◌6◌@ =6@ =6 =6 =6 =6 = 6 =
6 =6 =6 = 6
◌?◌@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@
?@ ?@ ?@ ?@

26
Consonant and Mātrā +Anuswaram combinations - Set 2

This set is in continuation of set 1 above which shows combinations of Consonant and
Mātrā + Anuswaram

         
◌6◌@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@
◌7◌@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@
◌8◌@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@
◌9◌@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@
◌:◌@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@
◌;◌@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@
<◌◌@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@
=◌◌@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@
>◌◌@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@
<◌6◌@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@
=◌6◌@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@
◌?◌@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@

Consonant and Mātrā +Anuswaram combinations - Set 3

This set is in continuation of set 2 above which shows combinations of Consonant and
Mātrā + Anuswaram

      
◌6◌@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@ 6@
◌7◌@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@ 7@
◌8◌@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@ 8@
◌9◌@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@ 9@
◌:◌@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :@

◌;◌@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@ ;@

<◌◌@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@ <@
=◌◌@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@ =@
>◌◌@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@ >@
<◌6◌@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@ <6@
=◌6◌@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@ =6@
◌?◌@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@ ?@

27
Consonant and Mātrā +Anuswaram combinations - Set 4

This set is in continuation of set 3 above which shows combinations of Consonant and
Mātrā + Anuswaram

'  ! " # $
◌6◌@ '6@ 6@ 6@ !6@ "6@ #6@ $6@
◌7◌@ '7@ 7@ 7@ !7@ "7@ #7@ $7@
◌8◌@ '8@ 8@ 8@ !8@ "8@ #8@ $8@
◌9◌@ '9@ 9@ 9@ !9@ "9@ #9@ $9@
◌:◌@ ':@ :@ :@ !:@ ":@ #:@ $:@

◌;◌@ ';@ ;@ ;@ !;@ ";@ #;@ $;@

<◌◌@ <'@ <@ < @ <!@ <"@ <#@ <$@
=◌◌@ ='@ =@ = @ =!@ ="@ =#@ =$@
>◌◌@ >'@ >@ > @ >!@ >"@ >#@ >$@
<◌6◌@ <'6@ <6@ < 6@ <!6@ <"6@ <#6@ <$6@
=◌6◌@ ='6@ =6@ = 6@ =!6@ ="6@ =#6@ =$6@
◌?◌@ '?@ ?@ ?@ !?@ "?@ #?@ $?@

Consonant and Mātrā +Anuswaram combinations - Set 5

This set is in continuation of set 4 above which shows combinations of retroflex

Consonants and Mātrā + Anuswaram

% &
◌6◌@ %6@ &6@
◌7◌@ %7@ &7@
◌8◌@ %8@ &8@
◌9◌@ %9@ &9@
◌:◌@ %:@ &:@
◌;◌@ % ;@ &;@
<◌◌@ <%@ <&@
=◌◌@ =%@ =&@
>◌◌@ >%@ >&@
<◌6◌@ <%6@ <&6@
=◌6◌@ =%6@ =&6@
◌?◌@ %?@ &?@

28
 6.3.3. The Ligature Set of Malayalam.
Malayalam has a large set of ligatural forms. These are combinations of
Consoanant+Chandrakkala (Halanta)+Consonant (CHC) or CHCHC or even rarer
CHCHCHC. The CHC combinations which are the most frequent are arranged in the
shape of a matrix: the abscissa or horizontal axis refers to the Consonant which
constitutes the ligature and the ordinate or vertical axis shows the consonant which forms
the ligature and which is followed by a Chandrakkala (Halanta).
As in 6.3.2. the ligature sets are divided into the following
6.3.3.1 CHC (in a matrix)
6.3.3.2 CHCHC
6.3.3.3.CHCHCHC

6.3.3.1. CHC ( combination of two consonants)

These ligatures are presented as in the earlier case of Consonant+Mātrā combinations in
four sets. A lot of “slots” have an X marked, showing that the experts have deemed that
such a ligature is not possible in the language. However in these cases, the font
developer is to assume that the ligature is linear in nature.
The following set shows a combination of two consonants. To know how particular
combinations forms, select one consonant from the first column and second from first
row. For eg. Combination of consonant “” ⁿ⅛₤ “”№← ℮№℅ⁿ↑→r₧ “J”.

CHC( combination of two consonants) - Set 1

    
 
 J d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d e d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 f d d d g d d d d d
d d d d d h i d d d

d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d j d k
 d d d d d d d d d d
d d d d d l d m d n

 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d

29
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 o d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
' d d d d d d d d d d
 p d d d d d d d d d
d d d d d d d d d d
! d d d d d q d d d d

" r d d d d d d d d d

# s d d d d d d d d d

$ d d d d d d d d d d
% d d d d d d d d d d
& t d d d d u d d d d

30
The following set shows a combination of two consonants. To know how particular
combinations forms, select one consonant from the first column and second from first
row. For eg. Combination of consonant “” ⁿ⅛₤ “”№← ℮№℅ⁿ↑→r₧ “v”.

CHC( combination of two consonants) – Set 2

         
 v d d d d w d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d x
 d d d d d d d d d y
 d d d d d d d d d d
d d d d d d d d d d

d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
d d d d d d d d d d
 z d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d { d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 | d } d ~ d d d d d
 d d d d d  € d d 
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d ‚ ƒ d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d „ … † ‡ ˆ
 d d d d d ‰ d d d Š
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d

31
 d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d ‹ d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
' d d d d d d d d d d
 d d d d d d d d d d
d d d d d d d d d d
! d d d d d d d d d d
" Œ  d d Ž d d d d 
# d d d d d  d d d ‘
$ d d d d d d d d d ’
% d d d d d d d d d d
& d d d d d “ d d d d

32
The following set shows a combination of two consonants. To know how particular
combinations forms, select one consonant from the first column and second from first
row. For eg. Combination of consonant “” ⁿ⅛₤ “”№← ℮№℅ⁿ↑→r₧ “Q”.

CHC( combination of two consonants) – Set 3

       ' 
 d d d d d Q M M  P
 d d d d d Q ” ” • P
 d d d d – Q — — ˜ P
 d d d d d Q ™ ™ š P

 d d d d d d d d d d
d d d d d Q › › œ P

d d d d d
Q   ž
P
 d d d d d Q Ÿ Ÿ   P

 d d d d d Q ¡ ¡ d P
d d d d d d d d d P
 d d d d d Q ¢ ¢ d P
 d d d d d Q d d d P
 d d d d d Q £ £ d P
 d d d d d Q ¤ ¤ d P
 d d d d ¥ Q ¦ ¦ d P
 d d d § ¨ Q © © ª P
 d d d d d Q « « d P
 d d d d d Q ¬ ¬ d P

 d d d d d Q ­ ­ d P

 d d d d ® Q d d d P
 ¯ d d d d Q O O R P

 d d d d d Q ° ° ± P

 d d ² d d Q ³ ³ ´ P

33
 d d d d d Q µ µ d P

 ¶ d d d · Q ¸ ¸ ¹ P

 º d d d » ¼ d d d P

 d d d d d Q d d d P
' d d d d d 'Q d ½ d d

 ¾ d d d d Q d d ¿ P

d d d d d Q À À Á Â

! d d d d à !Q Ä Ä Å !P

" d d d d Æ "Q Ç Ç d "P

# È d d d É #Q Ê Ê Ë #P

$ d d d d Ì $Q Í Í Î $P

% d d d d d %Q d d d %P

& d d d d d &Q d d d &P

34
The following set shows a combination of two consonants. To know how particular
combinations forms, select one consonant from the first column and second from first
row. For eg. Combination of consonant “” ⁿ⅛₤ “"”№← ℮№℅ⁿ↑→r₧ “Ï”.
CHC( combination of two consonants) – Set 4
! " # $ % &
 d Ï d d  d
 d d d d • d
 d d d d ˜ d
 d d d d š d

 d d d d d d
d d d d œ d

d d d d ž d
 d d d d   d
 d d d d d d
d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
 d d I d ª d
 d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
 d d d d R d
 d d d d ± d

 d d d d ´ d

 d d d d d d
 d d d d ¹ d

 d d d d d d
 d d d d d d

35
' d d d d d d
 d d d d d d
d d d d Á d

! Ð d d d Å d

" d d d d d d
# d d Ñ d Ë d
$ d d d d d d
% d d d d Ò d
& d d Ó d d d

36
In what follows the Chillu combinations with Consonants are presented:
Chillu + Consonant Clusters Set1
    
 
E d d d d d d d d d d
G d d d d d d d d d d
F d d d d d d d d d d
D d d d d d d d d d d
H d d d d d d d d d d

Chillu + Consonant Clusters Set2

         
E d d d d d d d d d d
G d d d d d d d d d d
F d d d d d d d d d d
D d d d d d d d d d d
H d d d d d d d d d d

Chillu + Consonant Clusters Set3

       ' 
E d d d d d d d Ô d d
G d d d d d d d d d d
F d d d d d d d d d d
D d d d d d d d d d d
H d d d d d d d d d d

Chillu + Consonant Clusters Set4

! " # $ % &
E d d d d d d
D d d d d d d

37
F d d d d d d
G d d d d d d
H d d d d d d

Consonant + Chillu set 1

E G F D H
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
d d d d d

d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
 d d d d d
' d d d d d
 d d d d d
d d d d d

38
! d d d d d
" d d d d d
# d d d d d
$ d d d d d
% d d d d d
& d d d d d

39
6.3.3.2 CHCHC ( combination of three consonants)
These are not as frequent as the CHC combinations. Only the major are listed below.

"C+C+'=Õ C +C+=}Q
#C +C +' = Ö C +C += ×
C +C += ƒQ C +'C += ©Q

C +C += „Q #C +C += Q

C +C +=‡Q C +C +'=Ø
C +C +=wQ C+ #C +=Ù

6.3.3.3.CHCHCHC ( Combination of four Consonants)

This is rare and is found only in the following:

C +C +Ú+=ÛQ
C +C +C + =ÜQ
C+ #C +C+= Ù Q

40
6.3.4 The Collation Order of Malayalam.
The collation order refers to the order in which the characters in a given language are
sorted. Sorting order is approved by govt. of kerala in
G.O.(MS)No:24/2001/ITD/22.11.01.It is published in the extra ordinary Gazette dated
18.12.2001. Report of the committee on Malayalam character Encoding and Keyboard
layout standardization – See chapter 5 reproduced below:

The text above is reproduced as a soft copy below:

( ) * + ◌C(#@ ; ,6@)
, - . / 0
1 2 3 4
    

 
    (D)
    (E)
    (◌@ )
  (F ') (G )
! " # (◌A $) (H %) &

41
7. REFERENCES
1. http://www.unicode.org
2. ISCII’91

42
8. ANNEXURES
Annexure 1: Names of experts who have contributed to the script grammar

43
Annexure :2 Report of the committee on Malayalam character Encoding
and Keyboard layout standardization

44
Annexure 3: Unicode Table of MALAYALAM

1
The Unicode chart provided is for version 5.1 since the Script Grammar was prepared at that time. No
considerable change in the script grammar can be seen in the updated versions of Unicode, with the
possible addition of the Rupee Sign U+02B9

45
46
47